


The forest ghost's song

by Fiannalover



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/stay night - All Media Types
Genre: Inspired by Alexandre Dumas' description of Robin's singing voice, M/M, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21697162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiannalover/pseuds/Fiannalover
Summary: When Bart started courting Robin, he didn’t expect to have won a songbird. And yet, here he was.
Relationships: Robin Hood | Archer/Bartholomew Roberts | Rider
Kudos: 28





	The forest ghost's song

To say it took a while to find out was an understatement. Even as they were together, Robin would oftenly keep quite a bit to himself. Not that the Rider minded much. It’s part of what made him fall for the redhead after all.

* * *

The first time he heard the Archer’s voice, it was after a rowdy night of drinking. As in, with Robin carrying Bartholomew home after the pirate drank way too much, having lost a drinking contest with Francis that he had no hope of winning.

“You really couldn’t have kept your mouth shut just this once, huh?”

“Shut uuuuuuuup. It’s not like you are any better with avoidin’ ya boozi.” Bartholomew struggled to let out, using Robin as a crutch. “Can’ you carry me ahn other way? Came on! Lif me as a bride!”

“Nope! You’re too heavy for that!” The Archer replied, getting an indignant ‘hey!’ from Bart as a result. Soonly, the smirk on Robin’s face widened. “But what will I do…”

“What will I do with this drunken sailor,

What will I do with this drunken sailor

What will I do with this drunken sailor

Until the early morning?”

Slowly, Robin kept getting cockier, specially as he saw Bart’s failed attempts to either sing along or complain. Could be either one, really. Determined, Robin kept singing, full of joy.

_Am I leaving him lonely until daybreak?_

_Am I marking him until he can’t even think?_

_Am I teasing him till he can’t stand me?_

“Early in the morning!”

At that last line, something changed.

No longer it was the rough, snark-filled voice that the thief carried. Instead, it was something much softer and pure than usual. Also, something that made the singer immediately stop, with what Bartholomew would later properly recognize as a blush showing up at his cheeks.

Before he could properly confront his lover, Robin said. “We got to your room. Try not to have too bad of a hangover tomorrow.”

And so, he fell asleep before he could ask anything else.

* * *

Weeks went by, without a single opportunity for the pirate to confirm if what he heard was true, or just his mind playing tricks on him. That happened, until the right deployment hit.

Finding out what was wrong with this Singularity was taking some time, being a peaceful world as far as the eye could see. And yet, something had to be wrong in order for it to even exist. And so, recon was expanded beyond the city they found themselves near, with Robin, in special, taking to the woods with ease.

For most people, running after him was a hopeless task. However, for Bart, there was some ease to doing so, even if he was a man of the sea, not of the woods. The little marks, here and there, that showed Robin’s presence, which other people missed, he found with relative little trouble, helped by the fact some fair amount of snow was present on the location, giving more hints as to where the thief was.

Properly finding a trail left behind was still something that happened very slowly, but the pirate steadily made way through unfamiliar land, crossing countless oak and yew, until a voice started guiding him, simultaneously the forest’s, and not.

“... dançar sozinho."

Eventually, he got close enough to the song’s source for him to start recognizing the lyrics. Not from a language that he knew in life, but one that he heard in plenty of ports, and the Throne helpfully supplied to him.

The other man, too, tried to make use of this knowledge that he was gifted to him.

Softly, the song went on, with the druid’s son getting used to the way the rhythm and language felt on his tongue, as the forest’s life came to rest near him, without a single drop of fear regarding the man that, any other day, would have hunted them.

Bartholomew could feel his heart be set fluttering all over again, until he, subconsciously, took a step forward, with the click resulting from stepping over a stick being one that was heard by the singer and his audience, the latter of which mostly ran away.

As for the first…

Robin looked at the intruder, and, upon doing so, quickly shifted from battle ready to ashamed, attempting to hide the blush that filled his expression.

Noticing that he should go on the offensive, the Rider asked. “So? Are you gonna woo me with that voice someday, or am I supposed to keep stumbling upon it time and time again?”

Robin scoffed in return, once he heard that. “Please, as if I could ever woo anyone with this voice. If anything, it might as well be a woman's voice." he stated, before adding. "It's not even my voice. It's Loxley's."

The Rider stayed in silence, for a while, aware of how this was something that, even if not exactly a sore spot, was still sometimes awkward. After a while, he stated. "That may be so, but it's still your beauty right now, my dear. So, why not make good use of it?"

"..."

"Could I perhaps get an encore, someday? Just for me." He added. "Until you get used to it."

By now, Robin was openly fidgetting, running his hand through the back of his head, before he sighed and gave in. "Fine, I suppose I might as well do so. But don't get smug over it, alright?"

"I wouldn't ever dream of it." He replied, even if his smirk said something a bit different."

* * *

_"You're the one who saw me dance by myself"_

As he laid on his beloved's lap, the first notes of a surprisingly shy melody reaching his ears, and a tender hand running through his hair, the Rider treasured discovering this little thing about his beloved.

It was the reason he fell in love with him, after all. All that Robin hid alongside his eye. To find more treasures on this man, he could ask for nothing better.

_"Where are my memories?_

_In what box do they keep my stories?_

_Return them to me_

_If anyone asks for me_

_Let me know"_

It was a bit of a sad song, even with the incredibly soft voice that his beloved carried. No, if anything, that added to it's sadness.

It was beautiful, like nothing else. And it fit it's singer so well.

Seeing the smile that Bartholomew carried, the pirate's closed eyes showing how calm and relaxed he was, Robin accepted some of the beauty he now had, himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Alexandre Dumas' describes Robin's singing voice (at the start of the book, at least) as being clear and feminine, which is where the idea for this came from.
> 
> Also, the songs here where a modified "Drunken Sailor" and a translated version of Simonami's "Fantasma". Hope you liked the fic!


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